Rohan de Silva on 3/19

Did you hear the great news? Pianist Rohan de Silva is coming to San Antonio on Saturday, March 19! YES!!!!!!! This is certainly one of the most important concerts of the season and you can see the program by clicking here.

Rohan is from Sri Lanka and he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School. He won the prize as Best Accompanist at the 1990 Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School since 1991. His radio and television credits include The Tonight Show, CNN’s “Showbiz Today”, NHK Television in Japan, NPR, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Berlin Radio. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/Sony Classical, Collins Classics in London, and RCA Victor.

NEVER HEARD OF ROHAN DE SILVA? Don’t worry, there will be another musician on stage on March 19 at Lila Cockrell that you may have heard of…violinist Itzhak Perlman! 🙂

Seriously, the “accompanist” often goes unappreciated when a star of Perlman’s stature is performing. But, in a violin recital, the pianist plays a critical role. I found this review online:

I’m not going to lie: I came to the concert to hear Itzhak Perlman, not Rohan De Silva. But I don’t want to downplay the pianist’s part in this performance. Rohan De Silva’s playing was also excellent: expressive, sensitive, dynamic. At first I focused my attention solely on Perlman, fascinated by his technical facility (and the automated wheelchair he had zoomed about the stage upon). But I soon realized that much of the music’s complexity came from the interplay between piano and violin—the contrast of musical textures, the back and forth exchange of the melody. I like the phrase in the program’s notes on Rohan De Silva: “collaborative piano.” The performance this past Sunday was a collaboration between two highly skilled musicians.

I hope you enjoy Itzhak Perlman on March 19, but be sure to check out the pianist too. I’m sure you’ll be amazed at what the “other guy” can do.